It might not mean much, but the Gators will have history on their side when they take on No. 1 Georgia on Saturday at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville.
Since 2008, the schools have taken turns winning three consecutive games against each other. Florida won three straight from 2008-10 and from 2014-16, while the Bulldogs won three straight from 2011-13 and from 2017-19. If that trend continues, the Gators will win on Saturday and again next year after winning in 2020.
Additionally, every time that the Atlanta Braves have made the World Series since relocating to Atlanta in 1966, Florida has beaten Georgia that year. The Braves are in the World Series right now.
For those two streaks to remain alive by 7:30 on Saturday night, the Gators will need to play by far their best game of the year.
The Bulldogs (7-0, 5-0 SEC) haven’t lost since the Gators beat them last year. They’ve beaten their opponents this year by an average score of 38-7. They’ve only played in one game that was decided by less than 20 points since their season opener against Clemson.
They received every single first-place vote in the Associated Press Poll and the Coaches’ Poll this week.
To put it simply, Georgia is the runaway national title favorite as of now, and there’s a reason why many of the experts are picking them to win this game by a large margin.
As is always the case under head coach Kirby Smart, defense is Georgia’s calling card. The only difference is that this year’s group isn’t just the best in the country; they are quite possibly one of the best defenses in recent history.
If this defense has a weakness, nobody has identified it yet.
They rank first in the country in both scoring defense (6.6 points per game) and total defense (208.3 yards per game). They’re second in rushing defense (63.6 yards per game) and passing defense (144.9 yards per game). They lead the SEC with an average of 3.43 sacks per game.
If you somehow overcome the odds and make it to the red zone, they’ve only given up two touchdowns in 10 red-zone possessions this year.
Are you completely bummed out yet? Well, here’s one more sobering stat: The Bulldogs have given up 46 points all season; Florida (4-3, 2-3) surrendered 49 points over the final three quarters against LSU.
Playing a clean game on offense is always important, but it’s even more important for the Gators this week. This defense is difficult enough to beat by itself. Having to overcome self-inflicted mistakes on top of that makes it a nearly impossible task.
“When you’re playing against a great defense, you have to execute because, if you make little mistakes, they turn into big mistakes, and mistakes are hard to recover from when you’re playing against a great defensive front,” UF coach Dan Mullen said. “You’ve got to be kind of efficient and execute at a high level every snap of the game. You can’t be herky-jerky, kind of back and forth.”
While there are multiple players who could be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft in April, the standout on UGA’s defense is tackle Jordan Davis. He’s been pretty much unblockable this season. His stats only show 18 tackles and 1.5 sacks, but the numbers don’t come close to telling the full story in his case. He’s a large reason – physically and figuratively – that it’s nearly impossible to run on them.
He’s been so dominant that some analysts are mentioning him in the Heisman Trophy conversation, which rarely happens with somebody who plays an unglamorous position like he does.
“It’s a huge challenge this week, I can be honest,” Gators offensive lineman Richard Gouraige said. “I know every day, I always tell my guys that we just need to just play fast, play with confidence and just go out and have fun. And once we do all those things, then the results will be pretty good.”
Depth is also a key ingredient to Georgia’s defensive success. Their second and third strings mostly consist of talented veterans, and their five-star freshmen have been able to gain valuable experience in their blowout wins.
“They have depth,” Mullen said. “They have talent. Guys that could have probably gone pretty high in the draft came back for another year, so that’s a big advantage for them to have that experience as well. They do a great job, though. Very talented players. They put them in good positions to make plays, well-coached, and they mix you up with a lot of different blitzes. They’re going to blitz you from every different angle.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs don’t jump off of the stat sheet in any specific area. They’re eighth in the conference in total offense (430.1 yards per game), sixth in rushing (192.7 yards per game) and eighth in passing (237.4 yards per game). However, they rank third in the league and 13th in the country in the only offensive stat that truly matters – scoring (38.4 points per game).
Because their defense is as dominant as it is, UGA’s run-heavy, don’t-kill-ourselves-with-mistakes approach has been more than good enough to win every game so far.
The strength of their offense is the line and the running back corps. They start two seniors and a junior up front, and three of their starters are listed at 310 pounds or heavier. They go four-deep in the backfield, led by Zamir White’s 83 carries for 400 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s a powerful runner who is aptly nicknamed “Zeus.”
James Cook has gained 296 yards and scored two touchdowns on 47 carries. Kendall Milton has carried the ball 49 times for 243 yards, while Kenny McIntosh has gained 127 yards on 29 carries. McIntosh and Cook are also receiving threats.
“They’re very physical up front,” UF defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “They get movement at the point of attack. Their backs do a very good job with their vision, running where you’re not. They can cut, they can bounce, they can get the edge. If you give them a soft edge, they can take it.
“They’ll run through tackles. They can take it to the house. They can get you double-digit gains with their ability to run through tackles and get to the soft edge. So, the combination of their physicality up front and the talent at running back makes them good at what they do.”
Like Florida, Georgia hasn’t announced its quarterback plans for the game. JT Daniels opened the season as the starter with some preseason Heisman hype. He missed their second game of the season against UAB with a strained lat muscle but returned to start their next two games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The pain then flared up again and forced him to miss their last three games.
Stetson Bennett has filled in for Daniels and performed well, completing 69.5 percent of his passes for 996 yards with 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
“I think [Bennett] does a really good job,” Grantham said. “He’s competitive. He’s really fast; he can pull the ball and run the quarterback runs. He can run away from people, DBs, things like that. He manages the game, knows where to throw the ball. He’s tough. In our game [last year] before he went out, he’d actually gotten hit and tried to stay in the game but just couldn’t finish it. So, he has some toughness to him.
“I think when you look, it’s like anything. When you have experience in the system from year one to year two, you probably get a little bit better. I think with a smart guy like him, he’s been able to maybe be a little bit cleaner in his reads as far as the passing game and where to throw it.”
It’s unknown whether Daniels is healthy enough to play this week or if he’ll even be the starter if he is healthy. There’s a chance that both of them could play.
Mullen said that Georgia’s offense doesn’t change much depending on which quarterback is playing, but there are still some subtle differences that they need to be cognizant of.
“They’re going to run their offense with either guy in the game,” he said. “I think it’s understanding which guy is in the game, and understanding, schematically, it’s not going to be a massive difference or a change. It’s really understanding what this guy brings to the table, and what are his strengths? What are his weaknesses?
“Even if you run the same play with two different quarterbacks, each one’s going to play and have a little bit of a strength to it in things that they bring to the table differently. So, you’ve just got to have the awareness of which quarterback’s in the game.”
Whoever plays quarterback for UGA will throw to a talented group of receivers led by Brock Bowers, who has emerged as one of the league’s top tight ends with 25 catches for 416 yards and six touchdowns. Wideouts Ladd McConkey, Jermaine Burton and Adonai Mitchell are each averaging more than 15 yards per reception and have found the end zone a combined six times.
The Gators have pulled off some memorable upsets in Jacksonville throughout the years. In 2002, unranked Florida stunned undefeated and fourth-ranked Georgia, 20-13. In 2014, the Gators ran for 418 yards and blew out No. 9 Georgia, 38-20.
If they can find a way to beat the Bulldogs on Saturday, it’ll be one of their most unexpected victories in the rivalry’s history. The Gators are excited for the opportunity to shock the world.
“The last couple years, any time we play a No. 1 team or anything like that, we’re always the underdog,” Florida defensive end Zachary Carter said. “So, it’s nothing we’ve never been in before, and I know guys are going to have that chip on their shoulder always, so we’ll be prepared.”